Podular structure is a more modern take on jail design than linear facilities, the system in use at the Lubbock County Jail.

Jailers in the Randall County facility can observe about 50 inmates while walking among them. But at the Lubbock jail, deputies must walk around cell blocks to observe inmates. The supervision of inmates is intermittent, based on whenever deputies make rounds.

Besides design principles, other aspects of the jail appealed to the Lubbock County officials.

The jail in Amarillo has amenities that enhance the work environment for jailers, including a restaurant-style eating area and an outside break area. Lubbock County Commissioner James Kitten said he believes those facilities could improve morale and retention of jailers.

Randall County's jail has fewer reminders of being a holding facility than the bar-lined corridors of Lubbock's jail.

And if a new jail was built in Lubbock, even less steel could be used than is in the Randall County facility, said Lubbock County Sheriff David Gutierrez.

Wooden doors could replace steel doors in areas where less violent offenders are housed, steel toilets could be replaced with less expensive porcelain ones, and immovable steel tables and chairs could be replaced with plastic, Gutierrez said.

However, Lubbock County officials said, there were aspects of the Amarillo jail that they wouldn't want incorporated in a new Lubbock County facility.

The Randall County facility utilizes video-conferencing technology for arraignments and inmate visitations.

That is an area Lubbock County likely would want to take a lighter approach to, said Chief Deputy Paul Scarborough of the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office.

Of concern to him is eliminating face-to-face contact inmates have with visitors.

"I would think that would affect inmate morale. I think that physical face-to-face contact is psychologically more healthy," he said.

Randall County's 153,000-square-foot facility cost $19.5 million to construct, said jail Supt. Barry McNutt. The facility includes offices for the sheriff's department and has beds for 310 inmates. It can be expanded to house 1,000 inmates, he said.

Lubbock County officials did not have an estimate for the cost of a similar jail capable of holding 1,000 or more inmates.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards recently recommended Lubbock County plan to house about 1,000 inmates by 2012.

The jail's current capacity is 795; however, it failed an annual state inspection in September because of overcrowding. For more than three of the past 12 months, it has averaged more than 800 inmates.

Expanding the current facility would carry a cost, as does maintaining the building, parts of which are 70 years old.

Maintenance costs for the Lubbock County Jail are projected to be $7 million over the next several years, Fetterly told commissioners in June.

County officials are considering the need for a new jail, but said that if one is built, it needs to be done right.

Planning is key to accomplishing that, Kitten said.

"You build a facility one time, but you operate it forever," he said.

Dirk Fillpot can be contacted at 766-8727 or dfillpot@lubbockonline.com